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We live in a demographically divided world with diverging demographic trends. Some less developed regions in Africa, Asia or the Arab World still experience rapid population growth, while advanced societies in Europe, North America, and East Asia constantly age due to declining fertility and prolonged life expectancy. At the same time, increasing migration may considerably change the population composition in both origin and destination countries. These recent demographic trends are challenges (and opportunities) for all societies and have – and will continue to have – considerable implications for social inequality, stratification and mobility.

There is a clear social gradient in demographic processes and outcomes. Recent research, also conducted at the Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology (ISS) at the University of Cologne, shows for example that wealth is positively correlated with longevity, that partnership formation/dissolution and childbearing differ by socio-economic status, and that education is a crucial resource in the context of spatial mobility.

The aim of this conference is to bring together researchers working in these fields and to foster a better understanding of individual (demographic) behaviors, the different outcomes of these behaviors, and how both, demographic processes and their consequences, affect social stratification and mobility in different economic, social, and cultural contexts.